6 Things Microsoft Plans to Do With GitHub

Execs reveal how the open-source developer platform will run under Microsoft.

Microsoft announced its acquisition of GitHub for a cool $7.5 billion this morning. The largest open-source code repository on the web, where more than 28 million developers worldwide share code and collaborate on projects, will soon operate independently under Microsoft's vast cloud umbrella.

Microsoft has grand designs for expanding GitHub's reach and plugging the platform into the Microsoft ecosystem and vice-versa, but all four speakers drove one point home: GitHub will remain autonomous and open for all developers. Here's what you need to know.

1Microsoft's GitHub Plans

"We are all-in with open source," said Nadella, who talked about how Microsoft has become the most active organization on GitHub over the past few years with more than 2 million commits or updates made to projects. It's the culmination of a slow but steady about-face on open source over the past several years in the Nadella era.

As for how GitHub will evolve as a Microsoft company, Nadella keyed in on three broad strategies: empower developers "at every stage of the development lifecycle," accelerate GitHub use for enterprise developers, and use the platform to bring Microsoft's own developer tools to a wider audience.

2Keeping GitHub Open

GitHub founder Chris Wanstrath said GitHub will remain an open platform for developers, no matter the programming language, platforms, operating systems, or devices they're coding for. Wanstrath has been encouraged by acquisitions during the Nadella era, like LinkedIn and Minecraft (as opposed to past deals like Nokia or Skype) in letting acquired companies maintain their independence and identity.

Nat Friedman, who will become GitHub CEO when the deal closes, reiterated that GitHub is committed to being an open platform where anyone in the open community can upload code and contribute. What Wanstrath and Friedman said without saying it outright is that developers worried about Microsoft messing with GitHub's ethos should chill out.

3Exec Shuffle

Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said the company expects to get US and EU regulatory approval and close the deal by the end of the year. At that time, Wanstrath (who had already announced his intention to step down as CEO) will become a technical fellow at Microsoft reporting to AI, cloud and developer chief Scott Guthrie. Friedman, who's spent the past two years since the Xamarin acquisition running Microsoft's developer services team, will take over as CEO also reporting to Guthrie.

4Cloud Integration

Nadella's new mantra for Microsoft is "intelligent cloud, intelligent edge" and the GitHub acquisition will play heavily into that. Friedman said the cloud is a core priority for developers, and that Microsoft is committed to plugging not only its own Azurecloud service into GitHub, but others such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform as well to help developers code for cloud, mobile, edge computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT).

5GitHub Marketplace

Microsoft's biggest plans are for the GitHub Marketplace. Friedman said Microsoft plans to leverage the marketplace to make all of Microsoft's developer tools and services (many of which are open source) available to everyone in the developer community.

6Visual Studio Code

Finally, Friedman said Microsoft will integrate capabilities from its open-source Visual Studio Code developer environment directly into GitHub to "create a more seamless experience" for developers to collaborate and merge code, and have a more productive end-to-end experience in coding for whatever language, operating system, cloud, or platform that GitHub users are passionate about.

Rob was previously an editor at SD Times covering software, managing social media, and writing narrative-driven features on any offbeat story or trend he could find. He graduated from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications ... See Full Bio